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© 2022 Fairygodboss. All rights reserved.
We have work to do
From the moment we came together five years ago to build a community for women, it’s been a core objective of ours to advance the careers of all women — including women of all races. In particular, we’ve tried to support women of color and include intersectional experiences in our content, VIP contributor group, role model profiles, webinars, podcasts and at our annual summit, Galvanize.
In our line of work, we often encounter companies who want to be more diverse but worry about being transparent. Our counsel is that nobody is perfect. While they have taken the first step by acknowledging shortcomings, we then encourage them to take additional, concrete actions. This is also true for us. We believe we can and should do better as a company.
We’re encouraged by the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, and that it is getting overdue, international attention. We are committed to using this moment to publicly commit to taking more action. In particular, we acknowledge that our own, albeit small, employee base is not diverse enough. We should improve our internal recruiting policies and be more systematic in setting diverse representation metrics within our marketing and content-creation processes.
To that end, we are creating a new Diversity & Inclusion plan for our business. It covers actions such as:
1) Sharing our metrics publicly: By month’s end, we will anonymously survey our employees and publish our colleagues’ demographic data by race, gender, sexual orientation, ability and other diversity dimensions, including a breakdown of the leadership team vs. total employee base**;
2) Revising our recruiting and hiring policies to ensure diverse candidate slates and set concrete, measurable goals for improving our company’s internal diversity data;
3) Creating a new content creation process that incorporates representation standards that covers images, editorial sources and role model profile backgrounds on our platform; and
4) Setting performance metrics for employees so there is accountability and consequences for these diversity goals.
We believe one of the most important things we can do right now is listen to marginalized, under-represented voices in our community. We welcome you — our supportive and diverse community — to send us your suggestions and ideas about how we can improve this platform. You can add them in the comments or email us at [email protected]
As Bozoma Saint John expressed at our Galvanize event last year, women will not achieve equality until black women do. We could not agree more.
- Georgene and Romy (co-founders of Fairygodboss)
** Update: our first employee demographic survey is available here: https://fairygodboss.com/articles/2020-fairygodboss-employee-demographics
Jennifer Swayne Njuguna
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06/16/20 at 5:46PM UTC
I think this is great! I'd also suggest thinking about what the day-to-day experience of Black and other women of color (particularly with any other intersectionality such as identifying as LGBTQ, having a disability, etc.) is like and addressing those areas if needed. For example, providing access to professional development, promotion, leadership opportunities, and stretch/growth assignments. This includes formal and informal routes as sometimes the informal relationships, invitations, access to meetings and calls, etc. can create unintended barriers in the form of exposure (or not) to leadership and opportunities.
Another area where companies also struggle and to consider is in accountability and enforcement of clear policies. An example of this is not adequately addressing microaggressions, especially when it's a manager or company rainmaker and a blind eye is turned to behavior that fosters a hostile environment.
Is there a Chief Diversity Officer, or some kind of accountable owner of the work who is part of the C-Suite?
Thanks for extending this platform to enlist suggestions! I have appreciated this space and look forward to seeing what more is to come!
Georgene HuangCEO & Co-founder of Fairygodboss
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06/17/20 at 8:27PM UTC
Jennifer, thank you for sharing these ideas. Currently we are 37 full time employees and most venture-backed startups of our size / stage don’t even have a dedicated HR professional, if you can believe that! I view myself as having the “buck stops here” level of accountability to D&I at the company and this community. So does Romy, which is why we penned this post, together as co-founders of the company. Additionally, we do have one dedicated HR professional and every member of our management team will have a part of their performance management process, including meeting D&I goals.
You also make excellent points about microaggressions by high-performing individuals and we have to be very careful about that and are working hard to create a culture where people feel they can speak up no matter who the unacceptable behavior may be coming from.
Jennifer Swayne Njuguna
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06/18/20 at 12:10AM UTC
Thanks for responding, Georgene! I think what you have outlined are all important steps and I'm excited to see Fairygodboss as a leader in this area, especially with so many companies having to come to terms with efforts that haven't gone far enough yet.
Patricia Osborne RandolphMFT looking to assist with uplifting others
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06/17/20 at 2:22PM UTC
Great suggestions!
Romy NewmanPresident & Co-Founder of Fairygodboss
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06/17/20 at 2:15PM UTC
Jennifer, thanks for your thoughts. I really like the idea of focusing on the day-to-day because it serves as the building blocks for more defined policy. I’m making it a top priority to listen so that we can continually and deliberately improve.
Jennifer Swayne Njuguna
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06/17/20 at 3:21PM UTC
Awesome!
Patricia Osborne RandolphMFT looking to assist with uplifting others
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06/16/20 at 5:26PM UTC
Thank you for sharing this message! It is encouraging to know that the top management of Fairygodboss.com is willing and open-minded about discussing a difficult topic for corporate America.
Georgene HuangCEO & Co-founder of Fairygodboss
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06/17/20 at 1:07AM UTC
Thanks for your support, Patricia! These conversations are certainly not easy but they are so important for making tangible progress.
LisaNurse, Technology Writer, Healthcare Executive
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06/15/20 at 2:10PM UTC (Edited)
I think this is a great plan, happy to see the transparency. @IntentionGirl585629 also makes a great point. My one add is an annual update on these initiatives and publicly shared metrics would be helpful.
Romy NewmanPresident & Co-Founder of Fairygodboss
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06/17/20 at 12:31AM UTC
I agree. We also plan on reviewing these metrics quarterly with our internal team.
Georgene HuangCEO & Co-founder of Fairygodboss
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06/15/20 at 8:38PM UTC (Edited)
Lisa, we will publish this data on our About Us page on the site and update it annually. Thanks for the suggestion!
Elena RogersSenior Payment Rep. From DETROIT
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06/13/20 at 1:57PM UTC (Edited)
I agree with you and the improved movement towards diversity and making it more concrete, just to just keep it short. However, I feel that maybe looking at how to reach out to a more diverse working class community is a direction to move toward as well. I have noticed a diverse white collarish type of work class in this platform more than I see of the blue collar type or of the lower payscale classed type of women workers with very limited college education here and even on LinkedIn. I understand we all want to be celebrated for what we have worked hard to accomplish in our lives and to also have others to share in it along with us but, there are other work classes of women that works just as hard in what they do with integrity and dignity by using what they alredy have to be all things to the significant people and communities that they live around. They also help to make up what the working class of women represents as whole as well and It doesn't always mean having an eloquent title of occupation in position that constitutes your power, grit and tenacity in the business world and by the way, I mean businesses of many kinds. Let's be open to having a great respect, being a celebratory platform of a diverse community of women from all types of working classes.
Romy NewmanPresident & Co-Founder of Fairygodboss
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06/16/20 at 4:17PM UTC
It is absolutely our intent that Fairygodboss should lift up working women in every field. Thank you for pointing out that there is opportunity for us to do more to support women in non-professional or non-corporate roles. We take this feedback seriously and as we pursue our content audit, we will be sure to incorporate this lens. Thanks for being a member of our community.
Georgene HuangCEO & Co-founder of Fairygodboss
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06/15/20 at 8:38PM UTC
Thank you for this suggestion. I absolutely agree that class and/or income is a diversity category that is under-discussed and highly correlated with other more-discussed dimensions such as veteran status and race, or ethnicity. One of my first thoughts is about the critical importance of essential workers (many of whom are lower-income women) during this COVID pandemic. The work they have done is exactly what you point out -- completely worth celebrating and amplifying. Their dedication is what has allowed our society to continue functioning during a global crisis and as we move forward we will look to uplift and highlight their successes.
Elena RogersSenior Payment Rep. From DETROIT
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06/15/20 at 10:05PM UTC (Edited)
Georgene,
Thank you very much.
I feel that this will be a giant leap in the direction of a type of diversity I have yet to see on some of the other platforms. A real plan for diversity that is genuine in the nature of how inclusivity is addressed, will lend itself to transparency.
© 2022 Fairygodboss. All rights reserved.